Opinions

August 18, 2014

Ocracoke Lighthouse

Hello from beautiful North Carolina! I’ve been here since August 12th, initially for a medical appointment at Duke University Medical Center with an orthopedic foot and ankle specialist/surgeon. The appointment was a huge let-down, to put it mildly. But I’m glad that I decided to extend my stay and make a holiday of this trip. I’ve been staying on an incredible little island called Ocracoke, which is part of North Carolina’s Outer Banks since last Friday night. I really lucked out in choosing this place, as well as the cute and charming B&B I randomly found online. I’ve been so impressed with the island, the village, the B&B, the beaches. Everything.

You can read more about my Duke and NC experience in the post I recently wrote for RheumatoidArthritis.net:

Tomorrow is my last full day here and I’m sad thinking about it. I’m not ready to go back home! I love the ocean so much and I have to say that island life certainly agrees with me. Alone time is something that I’ve been severely lacking for several months; I didn’t realize how much I needed this vacation.

I actually grew up in Durham, NC and lived there for 16 years. At 17, I was diagnosed with JRA (juvenile rheumatoid arthritis) and I was being treated at Duke University. My experience at Duke’s Children Hospital was ab positive and a negative. The positives were that I was treated and that everything was convenient in terms of I could get a check-up with my doctor, get blood drawn, get x-rays done, all in the same building. The negatives were (and maybe because I was so young) they were not great in communication in terms of fully explaining the medications/treatments, why they were doing this and the side effects, etc. Also, it took 6 months for them to diagnose me, therefore, taking 6 months to treat me and did not have anything except aleve for me to take in the meantime. All and all, Duke was better because they are very advanced in their research and facilities/structure. But their communication levels aren’t the best to the point where you feel like a number and not a patient, their one on one times are short, and the wait time (this is probably typical for all doctor appointments) is ridiculous.

so very sorry for the response you received from the North Carolina doc. when I’d read the history of all you’ve gone through with your ankle I was really hoping for you (and me) that he would have had a positive solution for the swelling and pain. I’ve been going through the same problem severe swelling in my left ankle for over 8 months. done the prednisone paks, lidocaine and Kenalog injections; currently on 10 mg daily prednisone, symvastatin, methotrexate & enbrel injections.